Kavita Singh spoke with the head of brand at Starling Bank Rachel Kerrone to talk about its video campaign, which took small businesses to new heights.
Back in February, Starling Bank launched a campaign ‘Helping businesses fly’ which highlighted the heroism of small business owners. In a collaboration with Wonderhood Studios, it was created by Ads DeChaud and Phil Le Brun, and directed by Elliott Dear through Blinkink.
The video campaign illustrated a small business owner who sets off on an adventure by taking off in her shed, which happens to double as her home office. She parts ways with her family and salutes them before taking off. Her shed soars through the skies as she is joined by other successful small businesses.
Starling Bank’s aim was to create a brand awareness for its company, but they also wanted the video to be ‘grown up, cinematic and uplifting’. Starling Bank itself was started by a female entrepreneur and former Allied Irish Banks COO, Anne Boden, so it was also important to illustrate a strong female in the video as well.
Rachel Kerrone, Starling Bank’s head of brand, said: “It felt really different and kind of authentic. As a brand, we wanted to do something unique, but we also wanted to be human and authentic and understanding to business owners as well.”
While the video nailed its business message, there were several creative aspects to make it stand out. The miniature business models at the end of the video were handcrafted by freelancers. The shed was built from scratch, and when they filmed the video, the crew rocked the shed back and forth to create the ‘turbulence’ of taking off into the skies. In addition, the orchestra in the background was live streamed and recorded from Prague to capture the campaign’s adventurous spirit.
The plan was to launch on TV and radio for six weeks with it initially launching on 23 February. However, when the pandemic hit, there was a change of heart.
Rachel said: “When Covid-19 hit, we did not pull back on the budget for this campaign. We continued to run it through radio and TV. We knew so many people were home and feeling a little all over the place. People were looking for that voice and strong brands to support them. We continued to run the campaign right through the middle of May.”
Starling Bank saw an uplift in business accounts as a result of the campaign. Its business account growth was not negatively impacted by the pandemic in any way. The pre-campaign prompt awareness was 65% and peaked at 73% just four weeks in; this went up to 80% amongst business owners. The pre-campaign comms awareness was 28% and it peaked at 35% 5 weeks in; this went up to 54% amongst business owners.
Rachel said: “We all worked well as a team. In addition, I think this campaign was so close to our hearts so we got some great reactions. So it was all very positive, and we were supporting female entrepreneurs in the video as well, and it’s sort of all aligned with our brand purpose. It landed well.”
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